Department of Forestry, Natural Resources Building, Michigan State University, 480 Wilson Road, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA.
Oecologia. 2021 Jun;196(2):529-538. doi: 10.1007/s00442-021-04948-1. Epub 2021 May 25.
Plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) are often involved in fundamental ecological processes such as plant succession and species coexistence. After a plant initiating PSFs dies, legacies of PSFs occurring as soil signatures that influence subsequent plants could persist for an unknown duration. Altered resource environments following plant death (especially light availability) could affect whether legacy effects manifest and persist. To evaluate PSFs and their legacies, we obtained soils from a chronosequence of Prunus serotina harvests. In a greenhouse experiment, we planted conspecific seedlings under two light levels in these soils of varying time since the influence of live Prunus serotina, and compared seed/seedling survival in soils from live trees, stumps, and surrounding forest matrix within each site and across the chronosequence. PSF legacies were measured as the difference between seedling performance in live tree and stump soils within a site. Negative PSF legacies of P. serotina were short-lived, lasting up to 0.5 years after tree removal. These effects occurred under 5% but not 30% full sun. PSFs and their legacies manifested in seed/seedling survival, but not biomass. Though restricted to low light, short-lived legacies of P. serotina PSFs could have lasting impacts on plant community dynamics during post-disturbance regeneration by disfavoring P. serotina regeneration in small tree-fall gaps.
植物-土壤反馈（PSFs）通常涉及植物演替和物种共存等基本生态过程。当启动 PSFs 的植物死亡后，作为土壤特征的 PSFs 会留下影响后续植物的遗产，其持续时间未知。植物死亡后资源环境的改变（尤其是光照的可获得性）可能会影响遗产效应是否表现和持续。为了评估 PSFs 和它们的遗产，我们从 Prunus serotina 收获的时间序列中获取了土壤。在温室实验中，我们在这些土壤中以两种光照水平种植了同种的幼苗，这些土壤受到活 Prunus serotina 的影响时间长短不一，然后在每个地点和整个时间序列中，比较了活树、树桩和周围森林基质土壤中种子/幼苗的存活率。PSF 遗产被定义为同一地点活树和树桩土壤中幼苗表现的差异。Prunus serotina 的负 PSF 遗产是短暂的，在树木移除后最多持续 0.5 年。这些影响发生在 5%而不是 30%的全日照下。PSFs 和它们的遗产在种子/幼苗的存活率上表现出来，但在生物量上没有表现出来。尽管受到光照限制，短寿命的 Prunus serotina PSFs 遗产可能会对干扰后再生过程中的植物群落动态产生持久影响，因为它不利于小的树木倒下空隙中 Prunus serotina 的再生。
